Wealthy Anti-Christian hate group – Southern Poverty Law Center – targeting MassResistance chapters

Working to intimidate and silence parents and citizens

Also targeting hundreds of pro-family groups nationwide

Despicable tactics widely condemned across America

May 5, 2017

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) uses psychological methods to portray pro-family, Christian, and conservative groups as dangerous to society and labels hundreds of them as "hate groups."

The virulently anti-Christian Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a well-funded left-wing extremist group based in Montgomery, Alabama, has begun targeting our MassResistance chapters, particularly our chapters in California, Texas, and Missouri. It has started pushing its demonization and disinformation to local liberal activists and media outlets.

It has become a common tactic of the Left to aggressively label groups that promote conservative and Judeo-Christian values as “hate groups” and “fringe” – rather than try to win in the court of public opinion. The goals are to demean religious belief and values and to shame and intimidate pro-family people into silence – and thus keep them out of the public forum.

Using imagery to demonize pro-family groups. This old photo of the KKK is displayed where one clicks to list the SPLC's "Extremist Files" -- which includes pro-family groups such as Alliance Defending Freedom, Act for America, American Family Association, and Liberty Counsel.

These tactics have accelerated since President Trump was elected. Rabid left-wing activists and their “fake news” allies in the mainstream media have stepped up their efforts against all conservatives using this approach. Virtually every major pro-family group in the U.S. has been targeted, along with Christian groups, Tea Party groups, and those critical of illegal immigration and Islamic terror. The SPLC has also similarly labeled various prominent individuals, including Dr. Ben Carson (which it was forced to rescind after a national outcry).

Whenever possible, the SPLC identifies bad people as Trump supporters.

Major pro-family groups labeled “hate groups” by the SPLC: ACT for America, Alliance Defending Freedom, American College of Pediatricians, American Family Association, Campus Ministry USA, Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-Fam), Coral Ridge Ministries, Family Research Council, Family Watch International, Illinois Family Institute, Liberty Counsel, MassResistance, Mission America, National Organization for Marriage, Pacific Justice Institute, Pass the Salt Ministries, Ruth Institute, Traditional Values Coalition, World Congress of Families

Individuals labeled as “haters” and “extremists” by the SPLC include: David Barton, Tony Perkins, Tim Wildmon, Scott Lively, Charles Murray, Mat Staver, Cliff Kincaid, David Horowitz, Frank Gaffney, Brian Camenker, Brian Brown, Joseph Farah, Peter LaBarbera, Pamela Geller, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Brigitte Gabriel, Daniel Pipes, and Robert Spencer.

Here is part of a "warning" that the SPLC posted to its activists.

The SPLC freely admits that the “hate group” designation is not for anything that pro-family, conservative, or Christian groups actually do, but the fact that their beliefs are at odds with Leftist doctrine. For example, if a group believes that homosexuality causes diseases and a shorter lifespan on average, it is a hate group – despite overwhelming medical evidence supporting that position.

SPLC “hate list” linked to attempted murders

Not surprisingly, the SPLC’s aggressive hatred of Christian groups has led to at least one bloody scene of attempted murder. On Aug. 15, 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins walked into the lobby of Family Research Council, a Christian-based group in Washington DC, and began shooting. A guard was shot but managed to subdue him. Corkins later told police that he wanted to methodically kill as many people as possible because the organization was listed as a Southern Poverty Law Center “hate” group. He was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. But the SPLC never apologized or even acknowledged any regret for this deadly incident.

In addition to the attempted murders, the violent melee on March 2, 2017, at Middlebury College targeting Dr. Charles Murray, an American Enterprise Institute scholar, was instigated by the SPLC's "hate list", according to numerous participants in that sordid activity.

Not included: Genuine left-wing hate groups

Actual hate groups – such Black Lives Matter, which has advocated murdering police, and the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which put on a “gay Jesus” event – are not included in any SPLC list.

The left-wing groups that organized and mobilized the bloody violence against conservatives at Berkeley this year are not considered "hateful" by the SPLC.

Since 2005 there have been numerous attacks on churches and gatherings of conservatives by organized LGBT activists. In 2008 homosexual groups in California staged a campaign of terror and violence against Christians who supported Prop 8. Yet none of those homosexual groups have been deemed a “hate” group by the SPLC -- though they clearly should be.

In 2009 a local LGBT group organized an effort to terrorize people attending a religious event at a downtown Boston church. They blasted a bullhorn right on the church window to drown out the proceedings inside. But the SPLC does not consider this to be "hate."

Main purpose: Raising huge money from gullible liberals

But inflaming liberal activists against conservatives is actually a secondary purpose of the SPLC. Its primary purpose is to raise extraordinary amounts of money from gullible liberals using these scare tactics. Over the years, the SPLC has built a war chest of nearly $300 million, according to reports, and spends relatively little of it on any legitimate “non-profit” activity -- besides more fundraising.

The SPLC first became prominent in 1987 by suing a moribund and dying local KKK group. They then used that to raise millions from that via direct mail. And they’ve never looked back.

The lurid and emotional use of the “hate” theme – portrayed very professionally – throughout the SPLC’s website and literature has proven to be an enormous moneymaker for the organization.

Near-universal condemnation of SPLC

These sleazy tactics have earned the SPLC vast condemnation from across the political spectrum. The waves of criticism against them across the political spectrum does not deter them, however. (See list of articles below.)

Tactics taken from Nazi propaganda

The SPLC’s most popular dehumanizing tactic against Christian and conservative groups is reminiscent of how Joseph Goebbels, the Third Reich’s Minister of Propaganda during the 1930’s, worked to dehumanize Jews. Goebbels would produce movie clips showing groups of Jews, then interspersing them with rats and other vermin, to give the psychological message that they were all part of the same dirt polluting society.

The SPLC employs a similar strategy using series of “hate maps” for each state, placing Christian and conservative groups interspersed with neo-Nazi and KKK groups alongside them. They also use a lot of Nazi and KKK imagery on their website. It also lists pro-family organizations and individual leaders among neo-Nazi and Aryan-nation groups and leaders. The purpose is to send the psychological message that they are all equally vile.

The SPLC's "hate" map intersperses new-Nazi and KKK groups with pro-family groups, Christian groups, and other conservative organizations.

(Actually, it appears that almost none of the neo-Nazi or KKK groups posted actually exist. Some are believed to be fictional, or even “created” by the SPLC for targeted fundraising. For example, we have never been able to find any of the ones listed in their New England maps or lists. The few that the SPLC can actually vouch for around the country appear to be mostly just one or two people in a basement.)

“Teaching Tolerance” as entrée to schools and police

The SPLC aggressively works to push its message of hate against conservative and Christian values into schools, police, and other government agencies such as the FBI.

A major tool for that is its “Teaching Tolerance” magazine, a truly Orwellian publication which purports -- in an often subtle but powerfully well-crafted style -- that true “tolerance” demands a rejection of traditional religious and cultural values, and acceptance of the leftist mantra. Thousands of copies of “Teaching Tolerance” are sent to schools across America, which are then implemented by leftist teachers.

This issue of "Teaching Tolerance'" distributed to schools across the country, is for teaching children: "Sex? Sexual orientation? Gender identity? Gender expression? Learn the language and the facts."

The SPLC’s twisted “tolerance” agenda has also found its way into police departments across America – and even the FBI. This successfully fueled the institutional suspicion and even loathing of conservative, Christian, and Tea Party groups by law enforcement agencies in recent years, while liberal and LGBT groups – even Black Lives Matter or left-wing terror groups in Berkeley -- are accepted and even welcomed.

The SPLC also lists so-called "Active Anti-Government Groups" on their website. The list includes Tea Parties, the Eagle Forum, the Constitution Party, Oath Keepers, and the news site WorldNetDaily.

Notably, in 2014, the FBI cut its ties with the SPLC after public outcry over its phony “research,” and when it became obvious that the SPLC’s claims about the rise of “hate” groups in America were vastly inconsistent with the FBI’s own findings. However, at some point after that the Obama Justice Department apparently forced the FBI to bring the SPLC back in, and so far the Trump Administration has not stepped in to fix that.

Another type of offensive SPLC imagery is connecting people carrying the American Flag with skinheads and Neo-Nazis.

Funding huge lawsuits against Judeo-Christian groups

Over the last few years, the SPLC has used its enormous bankroll to fund lawsuits against Christian and Jewish groups and individuals that are effective or whom the SPLC wants to make a strategic “example” of. For example, last year, the SPLC used the courts to shut down the counseling service JONAH, a Jewish group helping people who wanted to leave the homosexual lifestyle. SPLC has recently announced a lawsuit against Mat Staver and Liberty Counsel, a Christian-based legal service.

Of course, the SPLC also sues purported neo-Nazi and similar groups (usually relatively small and impotent), and then uses those “wins” for huge fundraising.

Lies and disinformation about pro-family leaders

In addition to their odious “hate group” campaign, the SPLC writes accompanying articles about pro-family leaders that contain purposeful lies and misrepresentations. This is frequently repeated as “fact” by liberal websites and Wikipedia authors, and also by the mainstream media. Here is the SPLC’s write-up of Brian Camenker of MassResistance.

In fact, there is now a well-funded industry of angry leftist groups – such as Right Wing Watch, People for the American Way, Media Matters, Human Rights Campaign, and the LGBTQ "anti-defamation" group GLAAD – that faithfully regurgitate the accusations, misinformation, and outright hate from the SPLC and distribute it to eager liberal activists.

Do not let these disgusting tactics silence you!

The Left, including those in the mainstream media, knows that it can never win the war of public opinion using facts and reason. That’s why they’re obsessed with the need to shame, intimidate, and harass conservatives and people of faith who dare to speak out. It is a classic bullying tactic.

But we're not letting it stop us.

The only way to ultimately avoid this treatment is to agree with them on everything. Even a relatively small divergence will attract their wrath. So don’t even try to placate them.

Don’t fall for it. Never let them intimidate you. If you stand up to this boldly and aggressively, they will begin to back down. They always do. Deep down they’re basically cowards. When we keep fighting with the truth, the truth eventually wins.

What others across America are saying about the SPLC...

Here are some articles about the SPLC and its activities: